Man, another scorcher. I got burnt to a crisp, seems i need to reread my earlier post regarding hot-weather play and sunscreen. When we left the house, it looked like it was gonna be overcast, but the sun burnt through about a half hour into the first round. The tourney was two rounds at Exposition Park in Aurora, CO. A pretty wide open course with the only real obstacles being the centralized sewage-filled ponds. I’ve played this course more than i’d care to admit and was feelin pretty good. I came out birdin’ the first 7 holes in a row. I picked up several more and was sitting at -14 with 3 holes to play. All were easy holes that i can drive with a putter and are pretty much gimmees. For some reason, my brain went on vacation and i only parred them. Still, -14 ended up being a 1008 and 1 stroke outta the lead! My second 1000-rated round this year, woohoo! Second round was a little rough, playing from the long tees, my lack of controlled distance really exposed itself. Threw my 1st drive into the pond, getting a bogey 4, choked on the island hole for a 5.. A few other bad shots put me out of the running. The crazy thing today was really my putting though. I hit a good 9-10 putts from several feet outside the circle. My jump putt is really starting to click. I ended up tying for 7th and takin home a little cash, always a good thing!

I hope this putting trend continues! Sounds like I’m gonna really need it with the stacked field at the Vibram Open. Oh yeah, um, I got into the Vibram Open off the waitlist, my flight leaves at 7am tomorrow morning. I’ll be there for a week, it’s really a dream come true. If anyone is interested, you can follow the live scoring online here.

This is gonna be awesome!!!

I think I may have just finally caught my breath. What a weekend. We were up in Aspen, CO for the 2009 Kiss The Sky, a PDGA B-Tier event playing two rounds of 21 holes on the highest disc golf course in the world!

Not your typical resort course by any means, the Aspen Mountain DGC sports some of the more extreme holes I’ve played. Huge downhills, challenging sidehills, impossible uphills, hit-or-die gaps! If you miss your line up there, you might as well wave because you will never see that disc again!

So the first round was pretty rough! Ironically, I played really well on the ‘extreme’ holes, staying safe and pinning my upshots. The real difficulty for me came in the multitude of uphill holes and ridiculous climbs! To say I need to get into better shape is a gross understatement. Perhaps this is that spark I need to quit smoking once and for all! My dear Jurky barely got through the 1st round as unbearable joint pain in her knee replacement took her out of the competition for day two.

I improved by 5 strokes the second round, but still finished way further back in the pack than I wanted to. Although I had a great time and the views were spectacular, I’m kinda glad this one’s every two years, I’ll need all the time I can get to prepare!

Here’s a few photos to give you an idea!

Up Next… The Bloom At Beaver Ranch – Jurky and I are going to try our hand at mixed doubles… yikes!

Whew! Played in the 6th Annual Denver Classic this past weekend. That was a tough one! 3 rounds of 27 holes over two days in blistering heat with late thunderstorms both days.. Somehow, even with three different layouts of varying length and difficulty, I managed to shoot the exact same score all three rounds, a measly par!

So what did we learn kids? Tournaments like this are just as much a test of your preparedness and endurance as they are of your strength and accuracy. It’s easy to mutter to myself afterwards, discounting a poor performance as just ‘I don’t play well in the heat’. Which, although true, is mostly because I didn’t follow a few simple rules…

When playing in the heat, here’s a few things which you think I would’ve learned by now:

1) SUNBLOCK! (I know it’s gross and greasy and you think it’s gonna make the disc slip outta yer hand, but it’s worth it).

2) WATER (and lots of it). Keeping cool and full-of-water (Greg won’t let me say hydrated) is key! Whenever water is provided at a tee, finish what you have and refill. If you’re not peein’ clear, you’re not doing it right :P

3) SHADE.. if you know the course is pretty barren, bring an umbrella. Otherwise, when you’re waiting for another group or player, wait in the shade whenever you can.

4) Dress the part! There are a lot of light-weight moisture-wicking shirts out there. In high temperatures, a cotton t-shirt is going to do very little for you. Also, do a little homework on good socks! Cotton won’t cut it. Don’t forget to bring a few extra pairs. Having fresh socks for the afternoon rounds and to put on afterward will keep yer feet happy!

5) Pack Light! If you’re probably not going to throw it, don’t bring it! If you can get away with a small bag, do it. Maybe a few backup for your go-to discs, a snack, xtra mini..

Hope that will help your next mid-summer scorcher be a success!

Next up: Kiss The Sky at Aspen, CO! I’ll be sure to get lots of pics for this one!!

So the last round went much better than the first two, I improved by 8 strokes to shoot a +1. Since we had tee times, we were able to join the gallery for the last 6 or 7 holes of the top card. Nikko shot lights out, setting the course record at -10.

There was a ring of fire before awards then the raffle. I had bought a tshirt earlier in the day and Val’s mom talked me into buying a handful of raffle tickets with my change.

Jurkface won a t-shirt and a disc, then they finally wound down to the last prize, a brand spankin new yellow-banded Innova Discatcher Pro, with the logo of the tournament on it.

The shook up all the tickets and called out the winner, ending in #545, I looked down the strip in my hand 543.. 544.. 545! I went nuts, I had actually won a basket in a raffle, I never get that kinda luck!

I borrowed a few sharpies and have everyone sign it! Now the fun part is figuring out how the heck to get it back to Colorado.. A good problem to have for sure!

We’re in Toledo for the night, visiting family, then tomorrow we’re off to Cedar Point, the roller coaster capitol of the world!

Just got back from the players party at the Jenkins house. Man, what a party!! There were fireworks, a live band, a delicious buffet, 9 holes of glow golf, and a putting contest! I gave Jay Reading a run for his money, but alas, the Yeti was unstoppable. Kind of intimidating lining up for a putt across from Jay and Feldberg.

We had an awesome time. Once again, the Jenkins showed they know how to do it right!!

Time for a nap! Jurky tee’s off at 10:24am, I go off at 10:48. Hopefully tomorrow’s round will be better.

Well, when folks asked me how I threw today, all I could do was smile and say “I threw often”.  The first round was not particularly stellar, the course is quite demanding and a few inches of inaccuracy can result in a devastating kick into some deep woods.  I had to pull off a few ‘get out jail’ shots just to save par.

The second round felt much better, I improved my score by a stroke, carding 4 birdies.  I just got a lot of bad kicks and some unlucky Out-of-Bounds shots. I’d say the one highlight of the day was getting a birdie 2 on the 423 foot hole #16 which played long and tight down a narrow field with OB on both sides finishing in a tight cluster of guardian trees.  I flattened a shiny blue 1st run champ Boss down the right side over the OB line, it faded left and skipped right by the bucket, leaving me a 20 footer that I put up and in :)  The spotter on the hole came over after we finished to tell me my deuce was one of only two on that hole the entire day!

Several holes later I witnessed an amazing ace from the group behind us. The hole plays about 390-400 feet, it’s a giant left-to-right shot downhill, OB on the left and jungle on the right. The first thrower off the tee threw a blazin sky anhyzer that just kept bending, slashed through some brush and slammed dead-center into the chains.  It was really something!!

If anyone is interested in following the scores, they will be posted here

We’re back at Jurky’s folks place gettin a quick shower and relaxin a bit before the players party over at Casa de Jenkins! Speaking of the ‘First Family of Disc Golf’  I can barely express in words just how impressed I was with how well run this tournament has been!  I mean any tee that was in the sun had a canopy and benches!  Every few holes there was water AND CANDY! I’ve played well over 100 tourneys in my disc golf ‘career’ thus far and this is above and beyond all of them in terms of how well the players are treated and how things are organized.  (ok, ok, the Japan Open is still the best, but these guys rock).

I also wanna say how much I’m liking my Double NutSac for tourneys.  I’ll admit, at first I wasn’t sure.  All the big guns carry these monsterous backpacks full of plastic and who knows what. I’ve found that with the nutsac, not only do I have more energy because I’m not carrying a ton of junk around, but because I’m only carrying 10 discs, I focus on the line i want to throw, not on a specific disc .  As a matter of fact, I may thin out my bag a bit more tomorrow, I only threw 6 or 7 discs out of the 10 I carried.

Well, we’re off to the players party for some backyard glow golf, putting contests and general insanity.  These folks sure know how to party.  I’m sure I’ll have some good stories tomorrow!

Until then remember, keep your putt’s high and your NutSac outta the mud :)

Happy B-Day USA!

We arrived in Akron late last night, almost didn’t get a rental car cause the flight was delayed!

The tourney plays at Roscoe Ewing Park in Medina, OH about 45 minutes southwest of Cleveland.

Got a good nights sleep and we were able to get a great practice round in today! It took a few holes to get used to disc stability at lower altitude. Jurky was hittin some crazy putts. I had a few near aces myself.

Really lookin forward to tomorrow! The field is pretty stacked and the course is quite technical. The distances are all well within my range but accuracy will be far more important than a big arm.

We’re kickin back at Jurky’s friends place. Enjoyin the campfire and fireworks.

Have a safe 4th! Stay tuned for tomorrows adventures!